The act of delaying, hesitating, or procrastinating; deliberate slowness or reluctance in action.
From Latin 'cunctari' (to delay, hesitate) + '-tion' (noun suffix indicating action). The Romans had this word for their own tendencies to delay, and English borrowed it through scholarly usage.
The Romans themselves used 'cunctation' as a term—they even named a famous general Fabius Maximus 'the Delayer' for his deliberate slowing tactics, showing how ancient cultures understood procrastination.
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